Traumatised Husband Dies, Wife Arrested and Tortured

2015-12-14

Six officers from Chongwenmen Police Substation in the Dongcheng District of Beijing broke into the home of Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Shufen on August 31st, 2015. They ransacked it and arrested her.

Ms. Zhang’s husband had died just 18 days before--after the police harassed the couple. Ms. Zhang was held for nine hours in the station before being transferred to Dongcheng District Detention Centre, where she was detained for a month.

Ms. Zhang recounts the couple's and her ordeals in her own words.

Frightened Husband Dies

My husband, Mr. Feng Mengzhi, was involved in a car accident 22 years ago when he was only 38 years old. He almost lost his life. Luckily, he was still able to take care of himself afterwards.

I was sent to Beijing Women’s Forced Labour Camp in 2008 for two years because I am a Falun Gong practitioner. My husband was left on his own and had a stroke.

When I returned home in March 2010, he had another stroke and was no longer able to take care of himself. I still took great care of him. He was very supportive of me practising Falun Gong. He also benefited from it, and his condition improved, too.

When practitioners started filing lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, my husband wanted to participate because he had personally suffered as a result of the persecution when I was arrested and detained. However, before he was able to, he died suddenly.

About five Chongwenmen Police Substation officers knocked on our door around 11:00 a.m. on August 12th, 2015. They claimed to be investigating my criminal complaint against Jiang. I refused to open the door.

One of them said, “My name is Wang Peng. We need some information from you and then we'll leave.” I was afraid my husband would be frightened if I let them in. I told them that there was nothing wrong with practicing Falun Gong and suing Jiang, and said I could go to the police station later to talk about it. I refused to open the door, and they finally left.

My husband heard all of what went on and got terribly upset. The next day, he suddenly had difficulty breathing and died that afternoon. He was only 60 years old.

Cutting Off the Electricity to Deceive Me

The electricity went out all of a sudden at 4:00 p.m. on August 31st, 2015. It was very strange, because the electric meter was still blinking. When I decided to check on it and opened my door, two police officers were standing right there. They had set it up so that I would open the door and they could arrest me.

One of the officers was Wang Peng. They started ransacking my house and took my Falun Gong books, phone cards, tape players, etc. They called for four more officers, arrested me, and took me to Chongwenmen Substation at around 5:00 p.m.

The Persecution I Endured

I was taken to the Dongcheng District Detention Centre at 1:30 a.m.

They forced me to have a physical exam. I was detained at Dongcheng District Detention Centre at around 3:30 a.m. on September 1st, 2015.

On September 1st, two police officers interrogated me about my filing a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin. I clarified the truth to them.

On September 3rd, about four guards told the other inmates to make me put on the detention centre uniform, because I had initially refused. They tied me up and put it on me. I went on a hunger strike at noon and took off the uniform.

On September 5th, I was transferred to the fifth ward. The guards there ordered me to put on the uniform again. I ignored them and continued to do the exercises.

On September 8th, guards decided to humiliate me by using a torture method called “chaining up a dog.” They handcuffed my hands behind one of my legs so that I couldn’t stand up. I couldn’t even turn over to sleep. I had to walk like a dog to use the toilet. So I went on a hunger strike to protest.

Beginning on September 10th, the police force-fed me. Two of them handcuffed me and held my legs down. One of them pushed down on my head very hard so that I couldn’t move. They poked a plastic tube into my nostril. It really hurt.

In the morning on September 11th, they attempted to force-feed me again, but were unsuccessful. They released my handcuffs and let me eat. The head of the detention centre asked me, “Will you practise again when you go home?” I said, “Yes!”

In the afternoon on September 12th, a guard told four or five inmates to put the uniform on me. They tried to chain me up like a dog again, and I went on a hunger strike to protest. They attempted to force feed me again, but were unsuccessful. I continued to talk to them about Falun Gong.

On September 18th and 19th, Li Jun, the political instructor, chained me up like a dog again

On September 20th, Li Jun and others force-fed me and made me sit on an iron chair. Eight or nine of them participated in the force-feeding. I shouted “Falun Gong is good” and sang Falun Gong songs. Li Jun stuffed a towel in my mouth.

On September 22nd, I refused to put on the detention centre uniform and explained the facts about Falun Gong. They took me back to the cell, where I told the truth about Falun Gong to the inmates and encouraged them to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organisations. Most of them agreed to quit.

On September 30th, I returned home.

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